OU football: Dominique Whaley working his way back

NORMAN — Dominique Whaley worked out on the sidelines Tuesday afternoon while his Oklahoma teammates began the second week of spring practice, the foundation for the 2012 season.

INJURY: Oklahoma Sooners' Dominique Whaley (8) sits on the bench in a cast after bein injured on the first play of the game during the college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Kansas State University Wildcats (KSU) at Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 30, 2011. in Manhattan, Kan. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman ORG XMIT: KOD

Last year's unconventional story of an under-the-radar running back who went from a walk-on serving sandwiches at Subway to the team's leading rusher was one of the highlights of the 2011 season. Probably the top highlight.

Running backs coach Cale Gundy doesn't see much of Whaley's rehab workouts from a broken ankle he suffered midway through last season. Gundy, though, nearly every day sees Whaley's rock-hard body and willingness to do everything possible to return 100 percent.

Reports are Whaley is ahead of schedule and should be ready for two-a-days in August.

“He looks good,” Gundy said. “I saw a little bit more stuff (Tuesday than I normally see) and he was running around a little bit faster.”

One of the hardest parts of the rehab process is tedious workouts while teammates wear pads and helmets and play football.

“He's amazing,” Gundy said. “He did a tremendous job of motivating himself. He works just as hard on individual stuff that he has to do. Compared with what everybody else is doing with weights he's doing his own stuff just as hard.”

Whaley's remarkable story can be traced to self motivation when it appeared his career was over two years ago.

A standout running back his sophomore season on an Army base in Germany, Whaley was the backup behind current OU teammate Javon Harris for two years at Lawton MacArthur. He also was a backup as a freshman at Langston after he fell through the cracks, failing to attend summer camps.

After returning to his family's home in Texas for a year, Whaley walked on at OU. In Norman, he put on 20 pounds and got bigger, stronger, faster. He was the leading rusher in the spring game a year ago and burst onto the scene by becoming the top running back on a team ranked preseason No. 1.

In his debut, a win over Tulsa, Whaley rushed for 131 yards and four touchdowns on 18 carries. It wasn't a coaching mind game that Whaley was listed as co-starter coming out of two-a-days.